Over 30,000 tourists visit Xiqiao Mountain on the birthday of Guanyin, celebrated on the 19th day of the ninth lunar month
On November 7, 2017 (the 19th day of the ninth lunar month), a traditional folk festival known as “Guanyin’s Birthday,” Xiqiao Mountain hosted the Thousand People’s Vegetarian Offering Ceremony as part of the 7th South China Sea Guanyin Culture Festival series. Traditional folk activities continued throughout the day, attracting over 30,000 citizens and tourists.
A folk festival with a thousand-year legacy sees a warm response to the Thousand People’s Vegetarian Offering
In the early morning, an unexpected autumn rain bathed the temple grounds, and Xiqiao Mountain was shrouded in mist, resembling a paradise on earth. The heavy rain did not dampen the enthusiasm or devotion of the worshippers and tourists who came to meditate and pray. The mountain was crowded with people, and volunteers worked enthusiastically despite the downpour, guiding worshippers orderly into the venue. From 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., the Grand Hall Universal Prayer Ceremony was held at Baofeng Temple on Xiqiao Mountain. The ceremony was solemn and serene, with visitors and devotees gathering in Xiqiao to purify their minds and bodies and share in the Dharma joy. The atmosphere was joyful and harmonious.
The birthday of Guanyin is a tradition that has continued for nearly a thousand years on Xiqiao Mountain. On the 19th day of the ninth lunar month, the day of Guanyin’s Birthday, it is customary for worshippers visiting the mountain to eat vegetarian food as a sign of sincerity and compassion. Despite the continuous heavy rain today, the Vegetarian Offering Ceremony was held as scheduled. One thousand five hundred worshippers enjoyed the prayer-offering vegetarian meal in the rain, in a peaceful and harmonious atmosphere.
Before the ceremony began, the volunteers responsible for delivering the vegetarian meals collectively prayed and chanted scriptures, then meticulously arranged the tableware in the rain. When the worshippers arrived at the offering site, following Buddhist rituals, all monks from Baofeng Temple on Xiqiao Mountain led everyone in prayers for blessings, after which everyone observed silence, seated together for the meal. They ate the vegetarian dishes in the rain, their joy undiminished and their devotion even stronger.
Venerable Abbot Xinjun of Baofeng Temple gave a Dharma talk during the Vegetarian Offering Ceremony: “Today, being able to dine under the blessing of Great Compassion Nectar is of even more extraordinary significance. In life, who doesn’t face storms? When you encounter difficulties, troubles, or setbacks in the future, recall today—how you chose to persevere despite the rain. That experience is the best way to help us grow.”
After years of careful development and promotion, Xiqiao Mountain’s Thousand People’s Vegetarian Banquet has become a signature event of the mountain, highly favored by many visitors and devotees. It is understood that, given the decades-long good reputation of Xiqiao Mountain’s Ten-Thousand People’s Vegetarian Banquet, although this year’s banquet changed from the previous individual bowl format, bookings remain extremely popular. Calls and WeChat inquiries about the offering continue non-stop. Many citizens and tourists not only seek out the high-quality, high-standard Xiqiao Mountain vegetarian banquets but have also made it an annual tradition to attend.
Heritage + Experience: Promoting the Xiqiao Mountain Cultural Tourism Brand
Xiqiao Mountain has a profound Buddhist culture and plays a very important role in the dissemination and promotion of Buddhism and Guanyin culture. The series of events for the South China Sea Guanyin Culture Festival at Xiqiao Mountain fully showcases the mountain’s long history and splendid culture, providing strong spiritual motivation and cultural support for the development of Foshan and even the entire Lingnan region.
Through constant innovation, Xiqiao Mountain has introduced cultural activities that emphasize experience and participation, enhancing the potential value of tourism and giving visitors unique experiences and memories. For example, the Baofeng Temple Meditation Camp introduced in recent years, with its morning bells and evening drums, Buddhist music and chants, allows participants to contemplate the Sixth Patriarch’s teaching of “realizing the nature of mind, the mind is Buddha,” enabling them to gain a deeper appreciation for the vastness and profundity of Buddhist culture.
The person in charge of Xiqiao Mountain Scenic Area stated that culture needs inheritance, compatibility, and breakthroughs. The Thousand People’s Vegetarian Banquet, as a distinctive brand activity of Xiqiao Mountain that has continued for seventeen years, attracts more citizens and tourists from different regions through experience and appreciation, thereby unlocking the core value of cultural tourism. On November 18, the 7th South China Sea Guanyin Culture Festival at Xiqiao Mountain will also be grandly held. A Buddhist music evening and the Lamp Transmission Ceremony will offer visitors and devotees an even deeper experience.
Xiqiao Mountain hopes to create its own unique tourism brand through the Guanyin Culture Festival. With rich forms of tourism experiences and cultural content, Xiqiao Mountain’s cultural tourism industry will become more comprehensive, comprehensively promoting the optimization and upgrade of Xiqiao Mountain Scenic Area. This aligns with the construction goal of Xiqiao Town to build a Lingnan cultural tourism and leisure town, establishing a Xiqiao Mountain cultural tourism brand with long-term competitiveness.